Domestic and Dangerous
by Casa Circe
Summary: ZUTARA WEEK 2014 Day Six: Socks. Katara receives some unexpected support while doing a tedious task and she finds more to appreciate about Zuko's joining the group.


**ZUTARA WEEK 2014, Day 6: SOCKS**

_**Domestic and Dangerous**_

**DISCLAIMER: **_**Avatar: the Last Airbender **_**and **_**The Legend of Korra **_**belong to Bryke, but Zutara Week belongs to all Zutarians. I write in the context where neither Kataang nor Maiko happened.**

**NOTE: **This was a lot of fun to work on and I didn't even expect it to be this long but the story practically wrote itself. This is set some time in Book 3 when the Gaang are all hanging out in Ember Island before the finale. Hope you enjoy it!

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"Sokka, this is getting ridiculous!" Katara protested, "This is the fifth pair you've damaged this week! And I haven't even finished repairing the others."

"Sorry, sis," Sokka replied sheepishly, "occupational hazard and all that."

"Don't be an idiot," the waterbender scolded, "We don't even travel on foot. I don't know how you manage to get holes in all your socks at such an alarming rate."

"Could you please just fix them?" the brother pleaded, "There's no one else here I can ask."

Katara glared at him but then nodded her head. Despite everything, she could not allow her only brother to be walking around in such a state of neglect. She felt personally responsible for him and she knew that he knew that about her.

"Fine," she said with a sigh of resignation, "just add it to the pile."

"You're the best sister in the world!" he cried triumphantly, giving said sister a quick hug and then running off before she changed her mind.

Katara brought out her sewing kit and gazed ruefully at the pile of her brother's damaged socks. She was usually in charge of all such domestic duties and she had never really minded since she knew that the others would be helpless without her. But moments like these were exceedingly tiresome.

Heaving another sigh, she decided to get to work. She had finished her training for the day and she figured that this would be a kind of break from all the serious work that they were doing. Normally, she enjoyed sewing when she had the chance but patching up Sokka's damaged garments was not exactly her idea of a restful afternoon.

As she started stitching the first sock, she was joined by Zuko who was just returning from a sparring session with Aang and Toph. They greeted each other cheerfully and the firebender sat down beside her, leading Katara to explain what she was doing.

"So these are all Sokka's?" Zuko asked incredulously, staring at the pile of worn out socks.

"That's my brother for you," Katara commented with a short laugh, "so I'm pretty much booked for the rest of the afternoon."

"Maybe I could help you," Zuko offered sincerely, "I know my way around a needle and thread. We could finish this pile in no time."

"Really? You'd do that?" Katara asked hopefully, "That would be such a huge help."

"It's no problem," the firebender assured her, taking a needle from her kit and threading it with ease, "my uncle taught me how to repair my own clothing, among other things. He told me that I had to learn to do everything by myself because I wouldn't always have the luxury of servants being at my beck and call. Besides, I like being independent. I find it dishonorable to have to ask others to do simple tasks that I could very well do myself."

"You should tell that to my brother," Katara teased, having listened with great admiration to the young man's speech.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean to…" Zuko said nervously but Katara interrupted him.

"Don't worry about it," she reassured him with a smile, "but I have a lot of respect for people who value their independence and who try to learn how to do things on their own."

"Thank you," Zuko replied, blushing slightly at the unexpected praise, "but you're like that too. I can see that you're the one keeping this whole group together. They would all be helpless without you."

Katara laughed at his comment and expressed her agreement. She was pleased that he had noticed all this despite joined them fairly recently. It had taken her some time to accept him into the group but now she had absolutely no doubts about him. And now that she had given him a chance, he was proving to be full of pleasant surprises.

"It's nice to get some appreciation every now and then," she remarked cheerfully, "but I don't want to complain. Everything I do, I do out of love anyway."

Before Zuko could say anything, Sokka appeared suddenly. "Hey, Katara, I just wanted to say thank you again for…"

He paused abruptly when he caught sight of Zuko calmly mending one of his socks. His eyes grew wide and a number of quips came to mind. While trying to choose the best one, he decided to start commenting.

"Wow, Zuko, I didn't know you could sew," the water tribe boy said with genuine incredulity.

"I learned how during my travels," the firebender replied matter-of-fact-ly.

"Oh, well that's…." but just as Sokka was about to make a wisecrack about how domesticated Zuko was for a fearsome firebender, he noticed the warning look in his sister's eyes and decided that he ought not to risk provoking her anger.

"That's…that's really useful." He just barely managed to save himself. He also began to feel embarrassed that the son of the Fire Lord was repairing his hole-filled socks. These were strange times indeed.

"Thanks," Zuko replied, his attention so focused on his task that he had failed to notice how a potential Water Tribe conflict had just been averted.

"Zuko's a really great help," Katara commented deliberately, "which is more than I can say for _some _people around here."

Sokka laughed nervously and Zuko looked up and began to feel slightly awkward about the situation.

"And what do you know," Katara continued sarcastically, "Some brave warriors can mend their own socks.

Giving another nervous laugh, Sokka muttered something about an errand he had to do for Aang before running off, leaving Zuko and Katara to enjoy a laugh at his expense.

"You're too hard on him," Zuko told her.

"He makes it too easy," Katara replied mischievously, "and that should remind him to be more careful about his socks in the future."

"Or maybe he will finally learn to mend them himself," Zuko suggested.

"I'd be glad if that would happen," Katara admitted, "but I fear my brother is not so easily reformed."

So the afternoon passed very pleasantly. The two enjoyed each other's company so time passed more quickly and the work was not so tedious. In record time, a new pile of freshly mended socks was formed and Zuko and Katara surveyed their work proudly. Katara, in particular, was so impressed that they had finished so promptly and she immediately expressed her gratitude to her assistant.

"Really, it was no problem, Katara" Zuko responded awkwardly, still unaccustomed to such warm displays of gratitude, "anytime you need help with the mending, just let me know."

"No, but this is really well done," Katara praised him, taking one of the socks he had worked on and admiring the neat needlework and even stitching, "you're wonderful. Can I marry you?"

An awkward pause.

"What?" Zuko asked nervously.

"What?" Katara echoed, unable to say anything else.

Another awkward pause.

"It was a joke, ha…haha," she blurted out, before laughing unconvincingly. Zuko followed suit and after an uncomfortable amount of strained laughter, Katara thanked him again and walked away, taking her brother's socks with her.

_Of course, it was a joke_, she repeated to herself frantically, _how could it be anything else?_

But then again, for all her skills, Katara had never been good at jokes.


End file.
